dddd
PublishedJanuary 10, 2017

Why Do Patent Trolls Love E.D. Tex.? The Answer May Surprise You!

Brian Love and James Yoon have a new paper out on the Eastern District of Texas and why patent assertion entities love it so much. The authors note that 90% of the patent cases in the Eastern District are filed by patent assertion entities. They look at several possible explanations, such as the speed of the court and the court’s reputation for plaintiff-friendly juries.

What they found should not be surprising to readers of this blog. Here’s an excerpt from their conclusion:

[W]e found that the patentees suing in East Texas benefit from the district’s combination of early, broad discovery deadlines with late action on motions to transfer, motions for summary judgment, and claim construction. Though our analysis is purely descriptive, we believe that the evidence points to this combination as the primary driving force behind the Eastern District’s popularity. A virtual guarantee that accused infringers will be forced to incur large discovery costs well before they are given a shot to move or win cases opens the door for patentees to profitably pursue high volume, low value litigation, and this is precisely the phenomenon that appears to drive the popularity of East Texas.

Love and Yoon also found that few cases have any connection to the Eastern District of Texas. Only about 18% of the cases in the Eastern District of Texas have any local link to the original inventor, original patent owner, or the first named defendant. By comparison, nearly 88% of the cases filed in the Northern District of California (which includes Silicon Valley) have such a local link to the district.

The authors make a strong argument that the best way to address this favored forum for patent trolls is to reform the venue provisions for patent cases, something that CCIA has advocated for a long time. This paper is well worth sharing with anyone who doubts the need for venue reform.

Matt Levy

Previously, Matt was patent counsel at the Computer & Communications Industry Association

More Posts

Study Confirms That PREVAIL Act, Patent Office ANPRM Proposals Will Hurt the Economy

A study from the Perryman Group – an economic and financial analysis firm based in Waco, Texas – confirmed that proposals contained in both the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO...

“Clear Abuse of Discretion” Leads to New Venue Precedent

In late October, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a decision by the District Court for the Western District of Texas that blocked TikTok Inc.’s request to move a patent infringement suit ...

Correcting the Record on the PREVAIL Act

Earlier this month, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property held a hearing to discuss Reforming the Patent Trial and Appeal Board – The PREVAIL Act and Proposals to Promote U.S. I...

Subscribe to Patent Progress

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.